Unpopular Opinion: We NEEDED to Play Another Game Before Lakers

This is not me trying to be overly optimistic. I have no idea what will happen next game, but if you're thinking big picture, this team needs more on-court time together. That was clear as early as the first quarter.

Hear me out. I bleed Rockets red. I took no joy in watching them lose last night, but had we ended up squeaking out game 6 against the Thunder, they would have had absolutely no chance of competing with the Lakers in game 1 with the way they are playing basketball. It would have been an automatic loss. Everything is out of sync and the only cure for that is more time on the court to gel. You're trying to integrate Westbrook back in the rotation and get him back up to speed on the fly and it has only been 2 games. He has clearly not been the same and this whole small ball experiment was done with the expectation of Russ being the super dynamic force he was before. Without Russ being Russ, we don't have a chance regardless and he desperately needs more time on the court to knock the rust off, get his timing back, and gain more confidence in that quad. He needs another game. This team needs another game.

Now on the flip side, they could certainly lose. That is a real possibility and I'll be as pissed off about a first-round exit as any of you, but I look forward to Wednesday and seeing if they can start to somewhat look like that darkhorse team in the West that so many people were predicting them to be. We need the real Westbrook back in order to be that.

 

You make very valid points. I won't say this is a PERFECT scenario. Anything can happen in a game 7 and winner take all scenario. I am of the belief that Russ is about as healthy as he is going to be...unfortunately. It is hard to tell at times if he is struggling because he is limited physically if he is simply lacking confidence in the quad and gradually trying to ramp up what he is trying to do on the court if he is just rusty and out of sync or some combination of these things. I just happen to think it is what it is at this point and he needs more time on the court to try to get it together and it is better to do that against an inferior opponent. Had they won, it isn't like he would've had a significant amount of time off between last night and game 1 to rest and for him to get more healthy. These playoffs are moving at a breakneck pace between series and 1 day off in between games. The Bucks ended their series against the Magic Saturday and played the Heat on Monday.

 

Yeah, Russ playing more games is bad overall, but he is so freaking rusty and out of sorts right now. He literally threw the ball out of bounds for no reason multiple times last night and I can't fully blame that on the quad. Honestly, we have no chance against the Lakers without him playing better and he needs more time on the court to get his act together. Maybe he is too hurt to play better and this is all moot.

I'm just saying they clearly have some issues to iron out and playing the Thunder another game to try to figure some things out on Wednesday may be better than potentially playing the Lakers on Wednesday and getting completely annihilated. IF THEY WIN.